She wanted to make sure Sofia knew Brandon hadn’t left her completely in the dark about this, but it scared her to death to wonder what else he’d left out—what else Sofia might’ve confessed to Sarah about that made her feel so guilty. Regina was fully prepared now to hear they’d slept together—more than once even. What scared her more was the possibility that Sofia was the real reason why Brandon had decided he never wanted another attachment again. Maybe seeing her again reminded him of the fact that she was someone he’d never get over.

“I mentioned it to Brandon when I got home, and he got really upset. I get that he and your brothers didn’t get along, but I don’t understand why he’d get this angry. He stormed out of here and . . .” She decided to leave out the fact that Brandon had just up and dumped her. Regina wouldn’t accept that things were over until she’d at least spoken with him. Trying to keep it together and not break down, she spoke again, but she lowered her voice to a whisper in an effort to keep it from breaking. “He’s just really, really angry, and I’m trying to understand why.”

She heard Sofia inhale deeply. “This is why I was hoping you’d call. First of all, what exactly did Alex tell you?”

Regina told her, and Sofia was quiet for a moment. “He didn’t tell you Brandon took advantage of me?”

“No.” Regina’s voice was a near whisper now. “He didn’t, did he?”

“No,” Sofia stressed immediately. “He didn’t, not at all. It just surprises me that Alex wouldn’t tell you Brandon had. It’s what I was worried about and why I wanted to talk to you. I had a feeling that story might get back to you, and I wanted to set the record straight. It’s why I told you at the party that Brandon was a good guy.”

Regina thought about that for a moment, and her worries about Sofia secretly being in love with Brandon doubled over. “Brandon told me everything that happened was consensual,” she whispered. “But he did leave a lot out.” She closed her eyes, her hand clutching the phone tightly. “Is there more?”

Sofia’s sudden silence was enough to spike Regina’s heartbeat, and she squeezed her eyes even tighter. “Sarah was the closest thing to a sister I had back then. So she’s the only one I ever told, but even she doesn’t know the whole truth. I had to deal with the guilt of Brandon taking all the blame for what happened for years. None of us had talked or even thought about this for years, and I wasn’t sure how my brothers or Eric would react to seeing him after all this time. I am surprised but happy that Alex didn’t go there again and make Brandon the bad guy.” She paused before going on then took another deep breath. “You’re the only one I’m going to tell, but I need to know this will go to the grave with you. I’m only doing it because Brandon didn’t deserve to take all the heat like he did back then. I certainly don’t want to be the cause of any problems for him now.”

She was quiet, and Regina assured her she wouldn’t tell a soul. In a lowered voice, Sofia began again. “You know all about my brothers and what they were like when we were growing up, right?”

“Yes.”

The thought actually made her crack a smile. She’d heard so many stories. She’d also heard the stories about how Sofia and Eric had sneaked around right under their noses. What was worrisome was that Sofia admitted to have been the instigator in all those stories. She wondered now what else she’d done with Brandon that no one knew about.

“I could make all kinds of excuses, Regina, but the truth is I was young. I’d never been kissed by anyone but Eric, and the bottom line is I was attracted to Brandon. So when he decided to kiss me, I let him. What nobody knows is that he gave me the opportunity to walk away. He literally told me to tell him to stop before he did it and that he would, but I didn’t. I wanted him to.” With another deep breath, she added, “Eric was already so hurt when I confessed what had happened I couldn’t possibly tell him that I could’ve easily avoided the kiss but chose not to. The worst thing was my brothers and Eric all blamed him. They made me out to be this naïve stupid little thing,” she said, her voice dripping with irritation, “who had been taken advantage of. As much as I wanted to scream at them, that I’d given into a moment of weakness of my own free will, I didn’t because I was terrified of losing Eric. His following me to the beach and then showing up drunk at my house was all because he was afraid I was actually buying into what my brothers were saying.”

That thought suddenly woke Regina. “Was it just the kiss, Sof? Nothing else ever happened?”

“Nothing else ever.”

Feeling an enormous relief, she still had to ask one more thing. “Were you ever in love with him?”

“No,” Sofia answered immediately and with conviction. “That was one area I had far more experience than he did even back then.” To Regina’s surprise, Sofia touched on the very thing she was thinking. “He confessed just before he left that he was in love with me, but I’d been in love with Eric for years. I knew what true love really felt like, and there was no way Brandon could have felt that for me. No way. We never had that kind of connection if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Smiling, Regina knew that, even with this information, she still had to fix things with Brandon. Like Sofia he likely thought Alex had badmouthed him—made him out to be a villain.

Sides.

She couldn’t have him thinking that by asking him to explain his side she’d meant the story of his taking advantage of Sofia. All she’d been asking for or ever cared about was whether or not there was more to the story of him and Sofia, something Sofia had just confirmed. No, there wasn’t.

Thanking Sofia for all her honest and upfront information, she hung up and tried calling Brandon again. This time it didn’t go straight to voicemail, but he didn’t answer anyway. Knowing that at least his phone was on now, she sent him a text.

If you don’t answer, I’m coming over.

She wouldn’t even wait for him to respond. Grabbing her keys, she headed for her car when she got his text response.

I’m not giving you my side, Regina. So don’t waste your time.

At the very least, he was responding now. Frowning, Regina texted back as fast as she could, standing right outside her car.

I don’t want your side. I spoke with Sofia. I just want to talk to you now.

She waited before she got in the car in case this was all he was going to give her. She didn’t want to be driving if they were going to go back and forth via text. Startled when her phone rang, she was even more surprised to see it was him, but she smiled, answering immediately.

“Hello?”

“You spoke with Sofie?”

Irritated by his insistence of calling her that and not thrilled about his extra chilly tenor, she frowned. “Yes. I called her—”

“You called her?” His voice went up a notch, bordering on the explosive now. “Why?”

“Because I needed to know the whole truth, but not—”

“Because my truth wasn’t worth shit?” He practically spit his words out, and she was certain now what he was thinking. “Whatever Alex put in your head had you questioning me and calling Sofie?”

“You wouldn’t answer your phone, Brandon. I tried calling you first.”

“Go to hell,” he said coldly, and the line clicked.

Her jaw dropped as she pulled the phone in front of her to confirm he’d actually hung up on her. With the confirmation that he had, Regina got in her car, throwing her phone on the passenger seat. She understood why he’d be so pissed, but he could at the very least have given her a chance to explain.

“How fucking rude!” she growled as she turned her car on.

Her phone rang, and she snatched it up, hitting the answer button. “How dare you?” she said loudly, already feeling choked up.

But the male voice on the other end wasn’t Brandon’s. “What?”

She shook her head, feeling a little stupid. “Art?”

“Yeah, who’d you think it was?”

Not wanting to get into it with him and in a hurry to get to Brandon, she played it off. “A friend of mine. I was just being silly. What’s up?”

“Bad news, babe. Dad’s back in the hospital.” Her heart tanked, and she gripped the wheel. “It’s not looking good. They want us all down there ASAP. I’d just gotten home when I got the call. I could swing by and get you.”

“No!” she said, the lump in her throat nearly unbearable, and her voice gave. “Not looking good?” she cried as she pulled out of the parking space. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know. They just told me to get there as soon as I could and to get you on the way. Gina, you shouldn’t drive like this.”

“Too late. I’m already on my way. I’ll just meet you there.”

As soon as she hung up, she let out a sob, banging her steering wheel. “Daddy, wait for me, please!”

* * *

The moment she arrived at the hospital, she knew she was too late. Bell tore herself away from Romero, whose chest she was latched on to, and ran to Gina.

“Sissy, he’s gone! Daddy’s gone!” she sobbed, wrapping her arms around her.

Regina nearly collapsed, but she held onto Bell with a shuddering bawl. She allowed herself to fall apart for just a few minutes as she and Bell clung to each other. When she walked into her father’s room where her mom was sitting holding his lifeless hand praying, it took everything in her, but she held it together. Pat stood next to her mom, crying softly, and Gina hugged her then leaned over and kissed her mom on the head.